our day at the Antiques Roadshow

We didn't know we were going until about two weeks before, when we got an unfamiliar envelope in the mail. It had Leah's name on it too. Inside were two tickets and a congratulatory letter. Evidently, she had sent away for them quite some time ago and when we told her we got them (she was already on her European summer trip) she was just as surprised as we were! Jumping ahead a bit, while waiting in line, it became somewhat apparent that we were lucky to get them as it was something many, many, thousands of people try to get tickets for. Some pay a whole bunch of money during the annual fundraising campaign. Those people are like golden ticket holders though and get special treatment. We didn't say it more than a couple of times when asked how we got tickets..."Oh, they just came in the mail...a surprise...from our 'away-at-college-daughter' who got them for us...we didn't even know!" Eyebrows went up..."You got tickets that easy...for free?" Yep. 

So, we got up early Saturday morning and hit the road...for the Roadshow!

Our first interesting 'see' of the day was this chrome car that pulled up outside of our lunch spot. Very shiny, very reflective, and very interesting. I was careful as I was aiming the camera, in case I wasn't really suppose to photograph it. Something that I did a few times later in the day. I wasn't trying to be a rule breaker , it was just so tempting to take pictures.

The rules on the back of the ticket said you could not arrive more than 30 minutes before your scheduled time. Each person with a ticket had to have at least one item or you could not get in. No more than two items could be brought in per person. So, as our excitement was building, we drove into the convention center parking lot. A very full parking lot! Our first glimpse of the people hauling their items was this picture below. We had to wait while they pushed, pulled and wheeled their stuff to and from the building.

More stuff spotted while we waiting to enter the parking area. We had a good little laugh at this point, just watching the people cart all their goodies in and out. 

We entered about 20 minutes before our 2:00 time slot.

We began waiting in our first line. There was a lot of excited chatter about tickets and what people were carrying. Mostly, people had their things wrapped up or in bags, so you couldn't really see much. The couple in front of us were great! She took about 30 selfies of herself (kinda wish I had snapped a sneakie of her selfie!) and he chatted with everyone. We got to know HIM quite well, as they were our line leaders most of the day.

Over an hour later, we moved into the next room. Is was a very large open room in the convention center. Our 2:00 group was lined up along the outside walls of the room. The far corner was the "next" door we would eventually get to pass through. But first...

they brought in more and more people and snaked them in lines, back-and-forth, down the center of the room.

It was at this point that someone made an announcement with a microphone. It went something like this..."We are so very sorry for the wait. If you have not heard by now, we had a fire on the set very early this morning. It  took awhile to get everything back in order and get equipment needed. We are very far behind with our day, but the appraisers are working through their lunch breaks in order to get everyone seen. From this point, there is at least a two hour wait. So, the 2:00 people will go in next, but that will be at least two hours from now! (remember I said we had already waited about an hour and a half? It was after 3:00 at that point.) We will be bringing a cart by with drinks and snacks for sale. There are a few chairs in the corner if anyone needs one. Thank-you for you patience." 

So the rom continued to fill up. People were in good moods. Our friendly guy in front of us was sharing all sorts of stories. He has led a very interesting life or he tells a great story. Either way...with his highly specialized security clearance..high security clearance...security clearance...clearance of high security...he was very happy to share many of his secret border missions. He even showed photos of highly secure mission arrests. Things "you don't want to know about, in fact if you did, you wouldn't want to live here." So many stories about all of his endeavors. Wowza. More on him later.

So, as I said , the room kept filling up and everyone just kept looking around, hoping to get a glimpse at what might be the prize of the day. But, as I also mentioned, most things were in boxes or bags or covered with sheet or blankets. Except for the tuba. She had a long day ahead of her carrying that small instrument.

  Finally, we were able to move on and go through the doors and down some escalators to the "basement floor" where all the action was happening. Another big line!!

We were handed booklets that had more instructions, frequently asked questions and a page to take notes once we were at the appraisers table. They had a big screen t.v showing past episodes of the roadshow. It was funny to hear people say..."I saw that one!"  This room had blue tape lines guiding us back and forth to our next destination.   

 The booklet told us how the appraisal would go and if we were chosen to be filmed, we would then go to "make-up".  Of course we had a few laughs and jokes about that... like, would they do "make-up AND hair?" Because if so, Chuck was very excited about the prospect of "getting hair done" or at least maybe "getting hair"!  We were many hours into the event, so the simples were setting in.   

Mostly, there was a lot of artwork. If you watch the show, it seems that artwork usually captures the attention, especially when it is a famous or obscure rare artist. Many times people say they bought their art at Goodwill for a small $ amount and they hit the jackpot with a rare find.  You just have to wonder which one might be that "rare find"!

  The sketch of the football player looked interesting. I couldn't read the signature from where i was standing but the interesting thing was how they were using the old chair as a push-cart for the books and drawings. It was probably the item worth the most money!

  So here is our high-security-clearance guy. He is ex-military and did a lot of tours over seas. He had been to some interesting places and told us about items he picked up in other countires. Some that he "hid" in his bags. His high security clearance made him so secretive! The framed etching he was showing was the item his wife was bringing. She found it in a dumpster with some other things after someone was moving. She looked it up, based on what she thought the artist signature said. It was marked with the original number of etchings printed in the series. She said the artist, if it is the same guy, had one hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (I think that's the one she said) and they were hoping it was a good find.

 The item he was bringing was in his other hand. It was a very heavy, metal case of some sort. It had an interesting handle and had clips to close it on the sides. It had a stamp on the side that had serial numbers on it and other markings that we couldn't make out. It looked military and one of the guesses we made was a canister for holding a stack of film reels. He loved that idea and made a whole story that perhaps they would be film reels from reconnaissance missions. Or the war films that they would send back to the states to play at the movie theaters.  I honestly think it is a canister for shipping film reels, perhaps wartime. Other guesses from those around were; container for food, i.e catering can, or a  holder for a drum during the war.  We saw him later in the day in the line for the military appraisal. By the time we got closer he was leaving that area. He did not have it with him any more. Everyone usually left with their item, whether they were going to the filming area or were just done. So, my thought was that it had even stumped the appraisers and they asked him to leave it with them for a bit while they researched it more. I also think we will see either him or his wife on the episode when it airs. Chuck and I have a five dollar bet that one of them will get on. They were both interesting people and had two items that , whether they were worth a whole bundle or not, had an interesting story. A dumpster dive for a piece of art and a metal canister that possibly stumped the appraisers.  

Watch for them !

When our line finally got to the next area...the APPRAISAL area...we were directed to separate tables for a person to look at what we had and determine which specialty ticket we would receive. 

Chuck got two Musical Instrument tickets for his dad's viola and the old saxophone he acquired in Colorado. I got a Military and Toy ticket. We thought we would be splitting up at this point but were told we could stay together in order to see each other's appraisal.

First stop...musical instruments. We were in the "no photo" area but I managed to sneak a little one in.  The ladies in front of us were at the table speaking with the appraiser.

  And then, because I didn't want to get kicked out after waiting the whole day, I didn't take any more photos. Chuck's instruments were appraised in the proximity of what he thought they were worth. He has looked them up on the internet before , but was curious to hear what they would say. This part was actually a little dissapointing. The appraiser looked at the instrument and then just looked it up on the computer himself. He basically just gave a price that the most recent one has sold at auction and then based on condition, gave a "between this and this" price. Seeing them just type in to the computer for  the appraisal for some reason seemed disappointing.

Next we moved to the toy line which was very short. The little item I brought was something he said he had not ever seen before.  Again, he typed it into the computer and saw a price that one had sold for.  He actually said that mine was in "excellent condition" and then "surprisingly excellent condition" , so he added a little more to its value for that. It was a quick appraisal and then we were off to our next line, which was the long Military line.

While waiting in line, I had to just sneak one more photo... which I figured was ok, because we were outside the "appraisal area".  And, I just thought it too good to miss. I had to really zoom in and tried to be discreet, thus a very blurry photo, but you can see...Elvis was in the building! Yep, an Elvis Black Velvet painting. Now, unless it was THE original black velvet or she bought it off the guy on the corner while driving down, I'm pretty sure that was the funniest item of the day. I'll take my words back if she appears on the show! By the way, the lady carrying it is the blonde peeking up over the top.

I got my ticket punched and we were finally up near the table. It was 6:30 by now and we had just been told the 4:00 people were just being let in. Wowza.

One of the appraisers, who had been away from the table re-entered the area and walked up to me in line and said, "What do you have?"  So, I told him.

"I have the story of a WWI Army soldier, my grandfather. I know that monetarily it probably isn't worth a great deal, but I think historically it might be of interest."
He was in France and as I remember the story he was on the front line. By the dates, it was nearing the end of the war. He was shot in the right arm and the bullet traveled through his body, collapsing his right lung,  narrowly missing his heart and lodging itself somewhere near the lower back of his neck.  That is where they removed the bullet. He told the story that he knows he laid in a fox hole for a couple of days, in and out of consciousness, until he heard someone yell down asking if anyone was in there. He managed to respond and as the medics were carrying him out, they said, 'Man, you are one lucky guy today. This was our last sweep through the area as we are moving on.'  I showed the field tag that they used to tag him with identification and his condition. I then showed his Purple Heart and the actual machine gun bullet that was removed from his body. He was very interested in the Purple Heart, because it is actually engraved with our grandfather's name. It is in the original box with the War Department's letter issuing the Purple Heart to him. He said it is more uncommon to have a Purple Heart with the name on it. He said without a name a value of 30.00 would be given. With a name, the value is 300.00.  And he thought having the bullet was amazing. I went on to show him the leather covered Honorable Discharge document, his photo in his uniform when he enlisted and a quick run through of letters from him to his mother and sister, while he was healing in the hospital in France.  He was in hospital for over three months before returning to the states. There are envelopes with his handwriting explaining the small treasures inside. One being a ring he made from a french coin. The appraiser said that was a common thing that they had the recovering soldiers do during rehab, make small things from anything that was available, often times, bullets. We find the letters fascinating as two speak of influenza that had been taking the lives of many people. That was the Spanish Influenza. He writes to his mother about his arm being stiff and that it was slow to heal, but that the doctors say he will make a good recovery. What is very interesting is what he doesn't say. Perhaps a son protecting his mother from worry? Because, also in this collection is a small pouch with many doctors notes. The first being in the field where he was treated and later the hospital in France. There are notes explaining the collapsed lung, fluid in his chest cavity, which he was quite ill from and the fact that they had drained it. There were x-ray notes that Chuck finds particularly fascinating, as he didn't know they were doing x-rays in 1918. My grandpa never told his mother about the internal injuries, that he might have lost his life from, rather just an arm wound.  There is a small hankie in an envelope embroidered  "To My Dear Mother" along with her photograph and obituary. He was a son who evidently cared for his mother.

I rattled this story to him more quickly than it will take you to even read it. I could tell he was in a hurry, probably wanting to make up time since they were so far behind. Also, I was holding all of this stuff in my arms, as I was still in line and didn't have a table to lay it out on.

Before having the time to take any of the letters out of the envelopes or the medical records out of the pouch, he looked me in the eyes and said "What do you want me to tell you?" I don't know if I responded or not and he continued to say..." This is so great that your family has all of this. Most people have one piece and don't know the story. They come to me and say...'what can you tell me about this?'  You have told me everything. You are the historian here and it is wonderful. He went on to say the records office for WWI was in Kansas City and it burned down a number of years ago. All records are gone. People ask all the time if we can tell them where their family member served and we have no way of looking it up. Your family is lucky. It is all right there. And he left you records of it all. The story he told you...it's great!"

He said I need to put it all in some type of acid free , safe place. Document everything for insurance purposes . "The value is that you and your family have this."

So, that was it. I walked away feeling a little sad that I didn't get to share as much as I wanted to and have him read even just one letter or see the postcards or the map of France that probably shows where he was at. I think we were unlucky that they were so far behind and that he pulled me from the line. (Chuck's favorite historian was sitting at the table and he is sure if we got to talk to him that he would have been even more interested and excited. Not to downplay this guy, he was excited and thought everything was really neat, especially the Purple Heart with its letter, but I think we thought there would be more.) So,  I think we were unlucky with the appraiser we got . But what I do know is...we are lucky as a family to have this story. We are lucky as a family to have these mementos, documents and treasures from his time in the war. And we are mostly lucky, as a family, that he was pulled from that fox hole on that day, because otherwise...we would not be the family that we are today.

So, as we walked away at nearly 7:00 after a little over five hours, hearing less than we hoped but appreciating more about a WWI soldier.

As we made our way back up the escalator , past the big window that had a sign saying "no photographs" , we stopped at the far window that didn't have a sign, the one that you couldn't see into the appraisal area and marveled at the lines that were still below. These are some of the lines to the individual categories...they formed all the way around the center appraisal area. You can see lights in the center as well, those were the small filming stations. Yes, we saw some filming going on although you couldn't linger or really watch. It will be fun to see the show when it airs in January. It will be the first of the new season as Tucson was the first city on their summer tour.

And the lines continued on and on. Look down...people bring some interesting things. A fake alligator!
Look to the left of the alligator to the man in the white shirt. We could see what he was holding...

                                                               Can you tell what he is holding?

Anyone remember Topo Gigio from the Ed Sullivan show? 

So, that was our day at the Roadshow. It was fun and interesting. A little disappointing to see how they actually appraise some things(via internet and auction sales), but certainly fun to be a part of the day and to see how the filming stations are set up. Also, fun to see many of the appraisers we see on the show.  They say they go through 5,000 people each day , which is at least 10,000 items. There are over 70 appraisers doing what they do. They usually film about two episodes per city, which usually feature about 10 people per episode.

Doing the math...the odds are not good for being the one to have a rare find and get on the show, but based on some of the things we saw... the goods are odd!